This word evokes a lot of images in a person's mind when they hear it. Some think of metal bars within prisons, some contests and ribbons, and others unacceptance of opinions. Judgment can be defined in roughly six ways:
1 - A formal utterance of an authoritative opinion
2 - a formal decision given by a court
3 - capitalized: the final judging of humankind by God
4 - the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing
5 - the capacity for judging: discernment
6 - a proposition stating something believed or asserted
It is commonly found that people know the verse 'judge not lest ye be judged' (or in the NKJV: "Judge not, that you be not judged. For what judgment you judge you will be judged; and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you" ~Matthew 7: 1 and 2) but we often apply it to other people. We say to ourselves "Hey you can't judge me!", but what we forget is that it's a commandment to everyone; not just everyone else besides us.
What's been bothering me as-of-late is the fact that my parents have been making judgmental remarks to events -and people- on TV. For example, the whole 'town meeting' thing that has been happening all over the country, and not everyone has been getting their questions answered about health care reform -well actually none of us really have answers-, but my parents have been taking everything that Fox News says as fact, and agrees with the light that they're portraying it in. Now I do agree with Fox on a long list of things, and I appreciate that they try very hard not to 'spin' things like other news channels on TV, but the fact is that neither side is listening to the other. Not just the far left, not just the far right, but both.
It's said that the meetings are supposed to be 'discussions'. What I'm wondering is, why are we not seeing the actual discussions then? Why just the shouted questions and accusations -whether they are true or not-, and no answers? If a discussion is "consideration of a question in open and usually informal debate" then why is there no debate?
Now I'm not sure how some people view a discussion, but I view it as a conversation, and a conversation is an "oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas" -exchange meaning a "trade"-. To have a successful discussion I believe that all parties involved should have an open ear to everyone else. Every opinion should be heard before any condemnation should be passed on either 'side'. Every person should be heard. Not talked over, not ignored, not convinced, but heard. In this situation neither the representatives nor the represented are listening to the other.
In Jazz band we often have 'conversations' through our music. One section plays something and then the others reply. If the pieces don't have conversation then we generally don't have a very good rating and the judges for our contests wouldn't like the pieces. Also, we have to listen to each other to make sure that we're balanced while we play. If nothing was balanced then we'd just be playing over each other and no one would be heard, and we'd have a train wreck...
What also should be understood is that: not every meeting is going to be as volatile as the ones that are giving spot-lights on TV. In my opinion I think that we should be impartial to ever bit of information that we hear/see. We should take a grain of salt with everything that we take in about non-eternal issues. And the reasoning behind this is that we don't know all of the facts, and we never will won't until Judgment Day (1 Corinthians 4:5 "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God."). So until then "...let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way." (~Romans 4:13)
All definitions are taken from http://www.merriam-webster.com and all verses are taken from the New King James Vesion of the Bible.